Improved washing-machine



` N. PETERS. PHDTo-LITHUGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D c.

PATENT Ormes.O

JOHN O. FELLOVVS, OF SOUTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED WASHING-MACHINE.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,634, dated June 19, 1866.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. FELLows, of South Adams, Berkshire county, State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in lashing- Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact'description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan view ot'a washing-machine made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section.

Similarletters of reference i ndicatelike parts.

The object ot' this invention is to produce a washingmachine which will be economical in construction and easy to repair, and which is easily operated witho-nt requiring the expenditure ot much power or much skill in operating it.

The letter A designates an open box or vessel with square or straight sides and a curved bottom. The bottom may be made ot' metal. or may be lined therewith, and it may have a perforation closed with a plug for draining ott' the water and suds.

In the vessel A, I place a curved open frame, B, whose sides may touch the bottom, and which in length and width is equal to the capacit-y ot' said vessel. Across the said frame B, l place slats O, oi' rounded or corrugated outline on their upper surlaces.V These slats O are permanentlyr secured to the frame, and' between them are other slats, B, which are placed on a vibrating frame, E,that is pivoted to the sides of frame B at the center ot' its length, the slats D projecting up between the slats O, as shown in the drawings. The vibrating frame E is also curved, but with a curve ot' less radius than that ot' frame B, and consequently its slats D are made to rise above the line of curvature of the slats O when the frame E is vibrated to one side or another on its pivot F. The length of the vibrating frame is such that its end slats are inside of the outermost slatsot' the fixed frame.

G is a skeleton roller, made by securing a series of rounded or corrugated slats,H, to the rims of two disks lixed on the ends of a sha-ft, I, whose length will allow it to curve within the box A and be moved from end to end thereof.

The ends of the shaft I are held by a frame; J, whose cross-piece is connected to a handle K, which projects above the top ot1 the vessel- From the sides of the frame J project pins L, which tit loosely in the vertical grooves M, made in the inner sides of the "essel A, and the roller is consequentlyT allowed vertical motion in said vessel, rising when any object isplaced on the bed of the slats O and D and falling when such object is removed.

The roller can be easily removed from the machine merely by lifting it out, the pins L being not confined above.

Then the operator works the handle K the roller will be rotated by frictional contact with the slats or any clothes lying on them, and when its weight comes on these slats D,which are elevated, it will force them down and cause their i'rame to be worked or vibrated, and the slats D at the other end oi the frame to be raised. This action will be sudden, and the slats so raised will throw up and agitate the mass oi' clothes lying on them and expose them to the direct contact ot' the roller as it advances toward them. These slats will in turn be depressed. and the clothes at the other end of the vessel will in turn be thrown up by those slats D which were first depressed, the continuance or repetition of this action causing the clothes to be continually tossed up and opened out, and also to be constantly directed toward the roller. The clothes are thus subjected to avery favorable rubbing action from the roller as it comes against, first, the raised slats D, and, secondly, the fixed slats between which they rise and fall.

` I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. The combination ot" the vibrating frame E with the frame B, the slats of frame E rising between the slats ot frame B, substantially as described.

2. The vibrating roller whose frame has vvertical motion, as described, with the xed and vibrating frames B and E, substantially as described.

JOHN C; FELLOWS.

Witnesses HENRY J. BLIss, IsAAo UoLLINs. 

